Duel for the Throne
A ritual knife fight between Paul Atreides and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen settles the succession.
Paul stood before Shaddam IV's court and the gathered Great Houses and named his price: Princess Irulan's hand, and the throne itself, forfeit. Baron Harkonnen answered the claim in fury. He put forward his nephew Feyd-Rautha, vicious and eager, as champion. The duel followed Harkonnen custom to the letter. That meant Feyd-Rautha carried a poisoned needle hidden in his belt for an unseen strike. Paul's prescience caught the trick before it landed and sent it back on him instead. Feyd-Rautha died there, in front of the entire Landsraad, and House Harkonnen's line of open succession died with him. The Guild needed its spice. The Sisterhood feared what an unchecked Kwisatz Haderach might do unopposed. Between the two, the Great Houses found themselves with only one road left: Paul, and the Golden Lion Throne.
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